Essays on Hemodynamic

Atrial Fibrillation

Atrial fibrillation is the most encountered cardiac rhythm disorder in clinical practice. It affects <1% of persons aged <60 years. This prevalence increases to 10% in persons aged >80 years (Amerena, Walters, Mirzaee and Kalman, 2013). Atrial fibrillation is a key differential diagnosis in patients presenting with chest pain, palpitations, shortness of breath, light-headedness, and syncope (Cruickshank, 2008). This paper will examine the differential diagnosis, pathophysiology, and paramedic implications of atrial fibrillation in relation to the case of a 43-year old male who presents with features and ECG findings of atrial fibrillation. It will first examine ...

Q1: Prioritizing patient care will help to complete nurse’s shift duties without any adverse patient complication. Prioritizing will help to plan out the day and in managing the cases in the most effective way (Alfaro-LeFevre 2014). The best path to plan care for the patient with different medical and surgical priorities is to set timed objectives and meet the discharge goals based on the urgency of the medical or surgical condition. The handover from the staff of the previous shift provided the information for 4 patients, of which Lucy’s condition is more of an emergency that will ...

Abstract

Heart failure (2.6% prevalent worldwide) is a complex clinical syndrome, resulting from a structural or functional cardiac disorder and impairing ventricular filling or ejection capability. The current case of a 59-year-old male patient admitted on August 18, 2016 due to worsening shortness of breath and bilateral left extremity edema (one week) involved an existing diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2). Physical and clinical profiles indicate a comorbidity between heart failure (HF) and DM2. Laboratory and imaging findings were not indicated, while diagnosis was based on the NYHA Classification guidelines. A review of literature revealed three crucial weaknesses in the diagnosis. ...

Monomorphic Ventricular Tachycardia

Cardiac arrhythmias often require immediate medical care that may include resuscitation (Ray, 2004). The diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmias can be challenging particularly in situations whereby the patient is asymptomatic and ECG findings are normal between symptomatic episodes (Cruickshank, 2008). Distinguishing between supraventricular and ventricular tachycardia is also a challenge (Australian Resuscitation Council, 2008). Cardiac arrhythmia should be suspected in patients with a history of syncope, near syncope, palpitations, and/or chest pain (Cruickshank, 2008). This paper will justify why monomophic ventricular tachycardia is the most likely diagnosis of a male patient who collapsed abruptly and has hypotension (BP 63/38), tachycardia ( ...

Abstract

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an infection which often develops as a result of poor handling of mechanical ventilation. Such as, poor nursing practice in caring for patients with difficulty in breathing can lead to microorganisms entering patient’s body through a tube inserted especially via mouth and nose of the patient. When these microorganisms get into the respiratory system they cause lung infection which is referred to as ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). In preventing this infection, it is important that nurses adopt best practices to reduce the incidence of VAP and provide quality care that is aimed at improving the ...